Why Kids Should Learn How to Code?

Increases critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

For many developers like myself, part of the appeal of coding is the challenge and reward of seeing my code come to life after debugging. Coding, debugging and remixing your own and other people’s code is fundamentally problem-solving activities. This will help kids to go back and think about what just happened and quickly solve the problem. Kids will learn to break big problems down into smaller manageable peace and also to use already gained knowledge on their own little projects.

I think everyone should learn how to program a computer, because it teaches you how to think.
– Steve Jobs

Future Job Ready

With the knowledge of programming, anyone can become superheroes, with this skill their opportunities will increase which can open pathways in, medical, science, engineering, defence, space and more. In the next 25 years, 71% of all new jobs will be required to have some STEM knowledge and 15% of the jobs in the future will be all automated, this includes such things as drivers, train/bus drivers, and other factory jobs. Learning to code will increase your child’s odds of securing a lucrative STEM career, especially in a world where computing jobs are growing at over twice the national average.

I wrote my first software program when I was thirteen years old. It was for playing tic-tac-toe. The computer I used was huge and cumbersome and slow and absolutely compelling.
– Bill Gates

Turning Ideas To Action

Once kids have the foundations of how to code, this then gives them the platform to start building whatever they desire. A famous example is Bill Gates who learned how to code when he was in eighth grade. His first program was in BASIC and was a computer representation of Game Tic Tac Toe. At the age of 15, he and Paul Allen made $20,000 with a computer program called Traf-O-Data which measured traffic flow in Seattle area.

Another example is Linus Torvalds the creator of the Linux operating system and Git starting to learn to code when he was in primary school just by doing simple stuff. When he started Linux he called it a “Hobby”, now the Linux operating system is a widely known within the IT community, it also powers 446 of the world’s top 500 supercomputers.

Programming Is Awesome And Fun.

With programming kids can make and produce many fascinating applications, they may build games, apps, websites, chat bots and much more. Children can tap into their creativity and produce things that us adults wouldn’t have imagined.

For many, part of the appeal of coding is the challenge and reward of seeing their code come to life after a good debugging session. Don’t be fooled, however–with the right instruction, getting started with programming can be easy and fun.

Programming is the language of the digital age.

When was I was growing up I wasn’t introduced to my first phone until I was in year 11, nowadays children are growing up differently than the previous generations. We are surrounded by Smartphones, Laptops, Tablets, Youtube, Netflix, and Facebook which are embedded in their daily lives. Even the toys are digital including Legos, LeapFrogs, Spheros and whiteboards. With this we need to understand the importance of the logic behind them, understanding the mechanics and code helps them understand the world.